IF we go by the reports coming from the Commission on Elections (Comelec), the preparations for the conduct of the 2025 midterm elections are divided into two priority areas: the usual physical voting in the country, and the new but potentially workable experiment on internet or online voting for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) based abroad.
While many are familiar with the way the poll body is conducting the elections, from the daily registration of voters during the registration period to the election itself and the proclamation of winners, this pivot towards online voting is new and untested in the Philippines.
It is the correct tact therefore for the Comelec to study and begin trials for the use of online voting for certain groups of voters such as the OFWs and other Filipinos living abroad. This is what other countries such as France, Panama, Pakistan and Armenia do. Several local elections in Canada and Australia are doing the same. But the Baltic state Estonia beats all others because it remains the only country in the world in which any citizen can cast a remote electronic vote during elections to their national parliament, to local government councils, or to the parliament of the European Union.
‘The elections next year will be both physical and electronic voting, and in both, the integrity of the automated election system must be secured and assured by the Commission on Elections.’
In the Philippines, the use of the internet in actual voting has not yet been given the legal mantle by Congress, despite requests made by Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia to the legislators in 2022.
However, the Comelec en banc decided to go ahead and approved online voting, citing a provision in Republic Act 9189 which allows the Comelec to “study the use of electronic mail, internet, or other secured networks” for absentee voting. It also cited RA 10590, or “The Overseas Voting Act of 2013,” which amended the previous law.
The latter provides that the commission “may explore other more efficient, reliable, and secure modes or systems, ensuring the secrecy and sanctity of the entire process, whether paper-based, electronic-based, or internet-based technology, or such other latest technology available …”
Also under Republic Act No. 9189 or “The Overseas Absentee Voting Act of 2003,” registered overseas Filipinos are allowed to vote in person at the Philippine embassy, consulate, or other Comelec-accredited polling place in their host country, or mail their ballot to the same foreign service offices.
It is easy to understand why very few Filipinos among some 2 million OFWs abroad find time to vote. They would need to be absent from work for one to two days, as our embassies and consulates are far away from their places of work, and there are even countries where we do not have an embassy. This is the reason for allowing them to vote by mail, a mode which also did not stick to Filipinos abroad.
“Why are not so many of them voting personally or by mail? Maybe they need another mode,” Chairman Garcia said. Perhaps the answer is electronic voting.
The Comelec announced last week that once internet voting for OFWs next year proves to be successful, “we can also do it domestically for our senior citizens, persons with disability and pregnant women.”
“If we can do that, then there is no need for them to get out of their homes and show up in crowded precincts and go for long walks to be able to reach schools to cast their votes,” he also said.
The elections next year will be both physical and electronic voting, and in both, the integrity of the automated election system must be secured and assured by the Commission on Elections.
